Mar 24, 2006

Speaking of Paris, check out L'esprit Du Clan! I stumbled across some mp3s about 2 years ago and my jaw was on the floor. A French Merauder? It sure as hell sounds like it. The tempo changes and vocal attacks make me want to punch holes through peoples heads. Some of the breakdowns make me feel like such a savage I picture myself wearing a Viking helmet and ripping raw meat straight off the bone.

I find myself saying this all too often in the blog, but I don't really know a ton of background info on this band. Their website is all in French and I took Spanish in high school so that's not much help. Maybe anyone else who can chime in can shed some light, I'm looking for more feedback and sharing of info from everyone who reads this rag. I'd like this blog to help spread info to each other. Getting their CDs here in the US doesn't seem to be an easy task. I was going to order a few of their newer discs but with shipping and the exchange rate it was equaling out to be about $30 for one CD. Their newer songs have more of a polished metal feel (think Machinehead, Demon Hunter) to them and I can get into that but these older ones are so raw it makes them even more awesome even if I don't know what they are saying.

Mar 22, 2006

I'm gonna go a little spree of showcasing some of my favorite European hardcore bands. Many of you yankees are too lazy to check out some of the awesome bands that have been dropping some great records over the years. Kickback are indeed one of my favorites.

In the mid nineties I was corresponding with singer Stephen who was running Hardway records (they did awesome 7"s from Overcast, All Out War, & Bulldoze). His tastes in music were very similar to mine. He eventually sent me Kickback's "Cornered" CD and I about shit myself. It encompasses a lot of things I love about hardcore. Total no bullshit attitude, heavy midpaced metallic hardcore with a NY vibe to it, great production, and the balls to back it up.

The first time I toured Europe was in 1996 and our very first show was with Rykers, Miozan, Refused, Madball, and Kickback. What a fucking show this was. I was stoked to get to meet Stephen and also to see his band play. A few years later in 1997 Kickback recorded and released "Forever War". I can't really remember how I got my hands on a copy as it's not easy outside of Europe to get their CDs. It had an even more metallic edge to it than the previous one. Trust me, I've been hounding some of my Euro compadres to send me a copy of their 3rd release "Les 150 Passions Meurtrieres". Still no luck in getting a copy.

Kickback seemed to have plenty of skeptics as I think their attitude and "tough guy" image didn't go over very well with the more politically correct crowd. I didn't really give a shit either way (and I'm sure the band didn't either) because I related more to this style of music compared to others.

Anyway, if you like bands with a nice mix of All Out War, Madball, and Fury of V then Kickback may just be the band for you. Hell I believe they are named after the legendary Breakdown song. Rumor has it that Kickback will be playing this years Superbowl of HxC in NYC. I'll be right up front once again 10 years after the first time I saw them. Here's a song from each of their early CDs. Both discs have many great tracks so I just grabbed a song that I felt captured the feel of each one. Enjoy.

Mar 12, 2006

So I'm sitting in my parents living room watching 120 Minutes on MTV. Rollins is being interviewed by some douche bag English lad acting like he loved Black Flag from the beginning. Rollins mentions that he tries to respond to all of the letters and correspondence that he receives. I'm not really sure why I decided to write him then. Either way I wrote him like a 5 page letter all about being straight edge and what it did for my life. I have no idea why I thought he would care of not, I guess it felt good to put it onto paper or something. A few months later I received this postcard. Kinda cool, I was pretty stoked. Postmarked: 10-20-1992 so my letter to him was probably written mid 1992 at some point.

Mar 8, 2006

Okay, here's the finale to our 3 parter on 4 Walls Falling. Hopefully you've enjoyed some of the previous stuff I've posted. If not? Life goes on. When I first heard the final CD from 4 Walls Falling my first response was not a favorable one. Maybe it was because it was a lot more slowed down, the songs were pushing the 4-7 minute mark, and overall it was a lot more experimental for the band at the time. It wasn't until a few years later did I pop it on and had the thought of "What the hell was I smoking, this shit is amazing!" I guess it just wasn't the right time beforehand for me to get it. That happens sometimes. Maybe it happened with a lot of people because it didn't seem like this record was really talked about much. It might not have helped that I think this only came out on a European label. Distro in the US was pretty abysmal for this release. I had a hard time picking 3 tracks to feature. As I started to try to make a list of favorites I realized I had written down almost all of the songs from the album! I'm wasn't really too sure on the demise of the band but after many nights of googling I finally found a recent really cool interview that you can read here. It's definitely worth your time if you liked this band. Here are 3 tracks from their last album, and I also posted a demo track from 1992 or 93 that somehow I got my hands on. It was the only song from that session that the band did not re-record for "Food For Worms". It's pretty cool so check it out. Let me know what you think.

You can still find this CD for only $6 at Very Distro.--------------------------------------------Also I just wanted to point out that Jon the bassist of TERROZONE gave a quick response to the post about his band. I would have loved to get some more background info but it's still pretty awesome that he checked out the site. I have no idea how people hear about these things. I am always stoked to know people are checking out the Blog and any input is appreciated especially about old bands so please leave feedback.

Mar 3, 2006

Man, I didn't attend this show but I sure as hell wish I did. I was fortunate enough to see Endpoint & Falling Forward in Bordentown NJ on a different show. The one band on this bill that I didn't see that I would have killed to back then, was Outspoken. I loved everything that band did for some reason. This is a killer line up. Middlesex shows were definitely something special back then. Thanx to Joe for sending this flyer on over. - EMS

Latest News:

As of 9/6/16 all mp3 links should be updated and working again even on all of the archived posts from throughout the years. If you find a broken link please let us know in the comments section of the post and we will fix it ASAP.

If you were in any of the bands posted on here please get in touch and help shed some light on some of these great old pieces of hardcore / punk rock history. I would love to share your stories! Thanx for reading. - EMS